Today, when you order "Bad To The Balloon by Mark Byrne - Volume 1 - DVD", you'll instantly be emailed a Penguin Magic gift certificate. You can spend it on anything you like at Penguin, just like cash. Just complete your order as normal, and within seconds you'll get an email with your gift certificate.

Bad To The Balloon follows a renegade biker balloon artist (Mark Byrne) as he teaches how to make balloons cool. His goal in creating balloon hats is to make them fast and make them great. Most hats take 45 seconds to 2 minutes to create.There is a detailed twist menu for beginners.

If you can make a decent teddy bear, you can do most of the balloons on this DVD!!

Intermediate and advanced twisters will love the flow and ease of this learning style. Unlike any other balloon DVD filmed, it has original music and location shots for each figure.

Filmmaker Jason Jeter (Devotion Pictures) & Mark Byrne (Funny Money Productions) have done the impossible... a balloon DVD you won't fall asleep watching!! From the opening sequence to the last sculpture, they guarantee you will be impressed.

"Florida magician and balloon artist
Mark Byrnes two discs on balloon twisting caught me by surprise. Sure, weve all seen plenty of
intriguing balloon art over the years, but unless balloon twisting is your thing, a how-to video
might not seem like a particularly entertaining proposition.

Guess again. These discs
dont just demonstrate the construction of two dozen excellent balloon figures; they also entertain
while they teach. By the time the first disc was half finished, my whole family had migrated into
the room to see what he was going to make next.

Both discs open with a music video made to
a parody recording of Bad to the Bone entitled Bad to the Balloon. It sets up Mr. Byrne as this
leather-wearing biker who isnt going to take any of your nonsense while hes making your balloon
hat, and you better not give him any lip about it. Thats okay, because he doesnt give any lip
either in these non-speaking vignettes.

The segments are shot on location in some outdoor
setting that relates to the figure. Mr. Byrne, in sunglasses and a black t-shirt, twists the
featured figure in each segment with speed and skill in realtime, giving the viewer a sense of how
long it really will take to create the sculpture once mastered. A supply list for each figure serves
as an opening caption at the beginning of the process. The construction is repeated in a closer
shot, allowing better visibility of some of the more detailed techniques.

On disc one, the
simple lines of the shark, dolphin, and swan figures are easy, effective likenesses. The mermaid and
surfer were a degree of difficulty higher, and the dragon figure was surprisingly complex for
something that could be done so efficiently. The tiki figure seemed like a waste of time, but I gave
bonus points for including a sculpture of an electrical tower, an unusual choice but one with plenty
of conversation potential. The family favorite on disc one was the duck, a rubber-ducky style duck
with googly eyes that add action to a normally static art form.

Disc two has significantly
more striking figures. Favorites included a monkey in a palm tree, a great dinosaur, and an
unexpectedly good representation of a flamingo. The cow, penguin, and housefly all generated good
responses from my judges; the cat was underwhelming. Some of these figures look strikingly like
familiar cartoon characters  not exactly, but I wouldnt be surprised if some in your audience made
the connections. On disc two youll also enjoy Dog Gone, a short tragicomedy about a boy and his
balloon dog.

Notably, all of Mr. Byrnes figures are constructed as hats. This has
practical value for the audience, as they can carry the figures around handsfree; less handling
means a longer life for the sculptures. For performers who work primarily for kids, the value of
costuming a child volunteer during a routine is well documented. If I did a lot of kid shows, Id
definitely consider learning these and creating interactive magic routines with them.

The
discs have a professional feel while still giving the sense that theyre not taking themselves too
seriously. The non-verbal teaching approach makes them accessible to non-English speakers, and the
music and gags in each segment give the presentation a surprising amount of energy for a disc that
features absolutely no audience or spectator involvement. The teaching moves quickly and presumes at
least some experience on the part of the twister, but both discs contain extra segments on twisting
basics and a closer look at the specific techniques used in the figures, so even a newbie should be
able to pick these up and learn to twist the figures.

Camera, sound, light, direction, and
concept all came together resulting in two excellent discs. Performers who use balloon art in their
work can certainly benefit from having these ideas and techniques in their repertoire, and the price
is more than reasonable for the value delivered."